Under the weepingwillow
by LilyBartAndTheOthers
Summary: She needed help from a friend, she looked at Will. WK fic.
1. I need someone

He took her face between his hands, shaking. Her tears were shining brightly under the moonlight, like the most beautiful diamonds he had ever seen. The soft breeze was caressing the leaves of the weeping-willow, singing a soft melody to them while their hearts were beating quickly. She closed her eyes and leaned over, feeling his breath against her lips.

The stars as the only witnesses of Will and Karen's first kiss.

I had completely forgotten it. The last events had plunged me into a whirl of worries and confusion. All of a sudden my perfect life had turned into an unbearable nightmare, a bit too real to be accepted. I couldn't fall asleep anymore and I started dreading the nights as we bite our lips in a fist of rage, swallowing back our tears. I had never felt so lonely, so weak.

I hated it.

It hit me right away when I saw the envelop. A disgusting red, golden letters on it. Shelter Island, Valentine's day party, the spotlight dance.

And Stanley in jail, for some obscure reasons I prefered to keep on ignoring.

I smiled bitterly and for the first time let the tears well up in my eyes, silently. As if my husband's situation weren't enough, now I had to face directly the gossip and humiliation of the high society I belonged to. I knew from experience that I would be the center of their little cruel games during those two days that I couldn't miss though, in spite of everything.

Bloody integrity.

I asked him because he was my lawyer and his official status seemt to fit to perfection the circumstances. It was reassuring. I knew it was going to be a torture for me and as much as I love Jack, there's something more about Will. A strength he's the only one able to bring me.

Besides I had been learning that I could rely on him whenever I needed to. Since the day the federal agents had come to tell me that Stanley had had been arrested to the first time I went for a visit out there. In jail. I just had to turn or tend my hand and Will was there, next to me. He would never let me down. His presence would help me to overcome the painful situation of Valentine's day. I think he guessed it and that's why he accepted immediately.

For my highest relief.

Karen is undoubtedly a very easy person to figure out, even though she's sure of the exact opposite. It reassures her somehow, she loves thinking she's a big mystery. She does her best to look different but she's like everybody.

She has to deal with her insecurities.

Something happened to her in the past, a lot of injuries. They made her anger turn into the very strong determination to get all the things she missed. She got it but also realized how fragile it was when she was told that her husband had been arrested. She lost control of it and what she loved the most crumbled away: her self-confidence, all those appearances. She put a brave face on and pretended not to be affected. It's instinctive, she can't bear her weaknesses, she's afraid they can hurt her as they did once. She dreads it more than anything.

We all know how she works. Grace, Jack, me. We stay quiet though and accept the way she deals with it.

Her own silence was enough clear. She was going through a bad patch because of Stan and I took advantage of my status to spend more time with her. She needed a presence next to her, it was reassuring. I learned a lot by then about her personnality.

She's smart and funny. She may go silly but she would never miss The Times every morning, she loves the literary critics. She can be a real pain sometimes but you can't help forgiving her right away when she looks at you and smiles. Her face lights up all of a sudden and you fall under her charms.

We were having lunch at a small Italian restaurant, in Little Italy. We had never gone there before, the place was intimate, cosy. I saw right away that she was worried, she didn't dare to look at me and was slightly speaking.

I never told her that I cancelled a very important meeting and lost so, one of our biggest clients. There's a difference between Karen and all those faces I can cross every day at the office. I'm there to help them as much as I can. But once I come back home, I put all their problems aside and think about myself, about my life.

Karen is in those two parts. I could quit my job in the second in order she feels better. I would never do that for the others. And even though she used the lawyer card to ask me the favor, I knew immediately that her eyes were pleading the friend I was. Not the businessman.

We didn't speak on the boat leading us to the island. She spent most of her time looking at the ocean, an ounce of nostalgia in her eyes. She looked like those actresses coming from the past, in black and white. Marlene Dietrich, Ava Gardner, Louise Brooks. Whenever you find a picture of one of them, their beauty catches you by surprise, flying over the nets of time. Unique ghosts who will last and stay, through the centuries. Their legends rocking us langurously.

I observed her and felt all of a sudden the urge to hug her. She had never looked so fragile, so lonely. I didn't move though and let her deal with her feelings. She needed it.


	2. A shelter for Karen

There's some places that we love more than anything, where we feel safe. Comfortable. Shelter island is one of them to me, I can't explain it. Perhaps the beauty of the park, the silence of the victorian manor. So far from the noises and stress of the city. Miles away from reality. 

Stanley never wanted to go for a walk in the afternoon, along the cliffs. He used to spend his time locked in the cigar room with his lookalikes. Rich businessmen who tend to confuse human beings with materialistic things. The object of their affection, us, the wives, with their suitcases and brandy. I never liked being an item more in the luxury of his life. He never guessed it though. Like all the rest.

Around 4pm the bar emptied all of a sudden. I always pretended to be tired but instead of waiting for the elevators, I pushed the oak doors and went to contemplate the ocean, the waves below. There's something fascinating about those rocks, those cliffs. What if I fall down? I may start flying, like the seagulls, and reach the clouds in a sigh of relief. I will be free.

I let Will almost immediately and tried to go away from the oppressive atmosphere I could feel. The charms of the island were still spreading its nets above my heart but I hadn't managed to let the rest behind. For once. Very soon I reached the lighthouse, at the end of the path and sat down on the ground. I closed my eyes and listened how the waves were joining the wind for a peaceful ave. How I was feeling lonely, and lost. Like this single tear running on my cheek.

I could have jumped off and let the ocean rock my dead body. Taking me away to an unknown place, an appealing mystery. But a hand on my shoulder made me look up and forget my dreams. Will was there, next to me. I smiled quietly and he sat down slowly.

Sometimes the distance changes everything. Our behaviors, our feelings. I was so tired that I didn't try to pretend, I didn't speak. Nor him. I didn't care of what he could be thinking of me. Why I was there, crying. Why I always hold a drink. Why I can't live without teasing him. It was another place, another story. I hadn't planned anything but I abdicted when he came to me.

Stanley had never tried to find me. He had never taken the path leading to me. Never passed his arms upon my shoulders so that I rested my head against him. Will hadn't even needed an hour to do all these things. And while I was looking at the ocean next to him, I suddenly understood that something would always be missing between Stan and I: the strength that determines the successful relationships.

My marriage had been over since the very beginning.

A shelter for the high society, a paradise in the middle of nowhere, a few hours away from New York and its permanent craziness. Exhausting, addicting. However when I closed the door of our suite behind me and went down to the lounge, I began to wonder whom we were trying to protect while sending all these millionaires here.

Them and their numerous golden credit cards? Or the rest of the population, from the nastiness of their minds? Hypocrisy isn't a game in the Upper East Side society, it's the base of everything, like breathing. You die at the scene if you try to be sincere.

She looked different here. Fragile. Of course all the previous years passed among this community had taught her how to put aside the least feeling of weakness as soon as she crossed their disgusting figures. But within a second she came back to her daydreams and for my highest surprise, let me witness the scene.

She felt embarrassed when she realized that she hadn't precised she would need another suite. She hid her shame behind a bitter statement about the incapacity of the room service but if you had paid attention, you could have seen that her eyes were looking for a getaway. One more evidence of her troubled mind, worried, confused. She still had difficulties to deal with Stanley's cases and lord knows she hated it.

It was too late though and all the bedrooms had been booked. I shrugged and unpacked my clothes while she vanished suddenly in a murmur of apologies.

We came back from the lighthouse hand in hand. We hadn't spoken there but I could have sworn that something had changed between the two of us. We had dropped out a curtain and let the light warm our faces. A bit more, a few inches. The manor appeared and the first words came out through our lips. Pure, sweet, sincere. She told me a thousand of stories, led me to her best memories. Her voice in the background, behind the door while the drops of the shower were running on my skin.

I heard her laugh in the bathroom as I was waiting for her then. A furtive image passing through my mind. The fantasy of her figure, there, on the other side of the door, leaned over in front of the mirror, looking at her reflexion. Trying her best to find the courage to face the gossip of the assembly. The first step is always the most difficult one. The dinner would be hard but as we entered the restaurant I took her hand and held it tight.

I would be there. I would always be there.


	3. Do you trust me?

Tell me why you stayed, why you didn't leave me here. Alone, panicked. The doors are wide open, you're free, Will. You don't belong to me, not even in my dreams. Tell me why you didn't move and decided to bear it with me. 

I relaxed under his smiles, the way he looked at me. Our table was in the center of the room but I didn't even notice the people around us. Their gazes probably turned towards our faces, full of suspicion, of misunderstandings.

He made me forget everything, all my worries, my fears, my regrets. When the soft sound of his voice vanished, I just looked up and locked my eyes in his. The candles bringing a special shade to the light of our bodies. Unique.

That's the thing with him. We can be so close sometimes that it becomes scaring. But when we dare to give up our souls to the rocking sincerety we share, the moment is magical. So bright. I love it.

I never wondered why he didn't make fun of me. Why he didn't ask about anything. Just played along perfectly. Perhaps there was no need he did, he had guessed it since the very beginning. I owe so much to our friendship.

We finished the evening in the lounge, sat in those big leather armchairs. A glass of brandy in our hands. The piano playing a gentle melody in the background. Most of the guests hadn't arrived yet, I still had a few hours before facing the storm of their critics. Their sympathy. So wrong, so disgusting. Why had I decided once to belong to this society?

I felt the tears well up in my eyes and excused myself. I pretended to be tired and so put an end to our evening. I stifled my sobs in the bathroom while he was waiting on the terrace of the suite. I didn't want him to hear my pain, it was too shameful. I'm weak sometimes, yes, and then?

I quietly dragged myself to the bed and then realized that he had no place to sleep where. I couldn't let him spend the night on the couch, not after all what he was doing for me. I like being bitchy but there's some limits.

We turned the lights off and I listened how his breath was slowling down peacefully. Just a few inches away from my lonely body. My injured soul. My frightened mind. I closed my eyes and let me rock by the warmness of his breath against my neck, successive little waves of a life resting there. Next to me.

How I had missed it.

But it was Will though. Just him.

I woke up the next morning when I felt the sun warm up my body. The ocean was glimmering in front of me, through the French window, the murmur of the waves and the soft breeze coming to my cheeks embracing me lovingly.

I looked down and saw Karen resting on my chest. She was still sleeping. Her features were so soft, almost innocent under the lake of her dreams. Her pure and quiet fantasies. There was just something, like a fine line on her forehead.

The scar of the past, the print of bad patches. Of this mystery, this secret life she kept so well for herself. A bit too much maybe.

The heat of the shower on my skin wrapped my heart tenderly. I felt like protecting her, she looked so weak. I had never seen her like that before, it was so weird. But it was another place, another story. Another Karen who was opening the doors of her intimacy to me. I didn't want to play nor start our teasing games. As childlish as they were, they had no reason to be there. She needed something else, she really did.

As I left the bathroom I found her laid on her stomach on the bed, feet in the air, reading The Times, glasses on, a neglicted ponytail keeping her hair away from her face. She smiled at me but frowned when my astonished gaze became more insistent. What was coming next from the Prada-Guccy-ied woman I knew? Sweatpants?

She was sipping an Irish coffee, biting hungrily in some toasts she had ordered previously. I let her finish her breakfast and went running through the cliffs. We would meet around 11am at the main bar of the manor, she didn't feel like going out. She's so lazy in the morning, you have no idea. She loves staying in bed, reading, dreaming.

She dreams a lot to forget her injuries.

Very soon I met other joggers scattered all over the paths of the island. We politely smiled at each other and I felt all the weight of their looks as I was going away. On my own. Leaving them behind brought me a feeling of relief that I couldn't explain but all of a sudden I understood the way Karen used to behave.

You had to stay apart in order to survive.

An attempt of protection, it was her best weapon.

I stopped by the lighthouse and couldn't help but smiled when I sat down at the exact place where I had found her the day before. Where something had changed between the two of us. Passing unnoticed like those tears she tried to swallow back quietly when she closed the door of the bathroom behind her. I could hear her sorrow through the thick layer of oak. I could read the pain through the brightness of her gaze.

She could keep on pretending but I had found the spring of her fears. And it made me mad, just to think how she was suffering. She didn't deserve it.

I looked blankly at the seagulls dancing in the blue sky above me. How they looked light and free. How Karen had taken possession of my mind since I had arrived here. She had spread the charms of her weaknesses over my heart in a bewitching motion.

Her soul was running in my veins. Addicting feeling.

g leaves.


	4. Unexpectation from the past

I may have always loved him, always found him attractive. I don't know and I don't care. I just want to enjoy this feeling that runs through my whole body as soon as I see him or when his figure crosses my mind, lovingly. 

Perhaps I was just trying to avoid reality and its meanings. My marriage, all these things. But when I woke up and filled my lungs with the smell he had left behind him, on this bed next to me, I felt relieved and it's when I realized that my heart was beating for him.

I was in love with Will. Of course he would never know it but still...

And all of a sudden my fears vanished. I let my worries go away and smiled at my reflection in the mirror of the bathroom. He made me feel dizzy, light, happy. I took off my wedding ring and replaced it with a ruby. A deep and dark red as pure as my feelings.

I was ready for a new beginning, a secret love, a precious friendship. My Will.

I smiled shyly at him when he appeared at the door of the bar a few hours later. I didn't want to mess up anything and so I had to keep on pretending. The show must go on and so I did. The sweetness of his gaze was wrapping my heart tenderly, a soft motion accompanying the red wine I was sipping.

I forgot about our conversation, it was all about feelings. Strong emotions that were taking me away, in a whirl of hopes, wishes. And while the day before I was praying for my return to New York City, I was now dying for an eternal stay here. With him.

I remember the way he brushed my lower back, how I shivered under his hand when we entered the restaurant, stopping by, speaking politely with the other guests. Those people I had dreaded to meet. How proud I was finally, to be standing there, next to him. They could ask me about Stanley, my mind was so far from him. So far from the illegality of his acts with which I had nothing to do. I wasn't the one to blame for once, I didn't have to feel guilty for what he had done. A bit angry perhaps, for the sequels on my own life. But no more. No more.

The hours flew away and very soon I found myself sat on a rattan chair in the greenhouse overlooking the ocean. The sun was warming up my skin and I did my best to refrain my wish to rest my head on his shoulder and stay in his embrace quietly. How I love when we aren't arguing, when it is all calm, so simple. A pure logic.

What would happen once we would get back to the routine of Manhattan? He would spend his days with Grace, I would look at them with envy and I would smile, politely. Wishing I were her. If only. But at least I would have the luck to know him and to have shared those three days of complicity. That was already more than all the things I could ask actually.

I had only left her for a couple hours but when I came back she looked relaxed, in peace with herself and the high society she was facing bravely. She was wearing a dark red dress, long, unique. The fabric taking on the exact shape of the curves of her body in a sensual wave of charms, appealing.

She was breathtaking.

I got lost in the sincerety of her smiles and the flame burning in her eyes. Her features had softened but she had kept an ounce of vulnerability that I loved more than anything. She should never try to hide it, it belongs to the essence of her breath.

She suggested a walk through the park that I accepted immediately. We do say that perfection doesn't exist but that day was bringing the taste of it though, on our lips. She took off her high heels and started going barefoot in the grass. Her pale complexion matching with the bright green of the ground, the dark red of her dress. We stayed quiet for a while, she was looking down dreamingly. And then she stopped and whispered softly.

Thank you for everything.

Those moments are very rare with Karen, that's why I keep them preciously. She would make fun of you then, seriousness is scaring. But she caught me by surprise when she just smiled and hugged me. The accumulation of those stressful feelings she had been carrying on since the very beginning may have come to this point where sincerety is required.

I was so glad that she was fine and managed to bear the situation thanks to me. That's what friendship is for, isn't it?

We arrived to a meadow where a weeping-willow was resting on the center, imposing. Supervising the rest of the island like a king on his people. She held her breath loudly, stopped and looked at the tree silently. All her face was shining under the reminiscence of a souvenir she was obviously the only one to own. Another bit of her numerous mysteries.

She grabbed my hand and started running towards the majestic tree.

Come on, Will! Let me show you something.

I followed her, laughing in the craziness of her fast steps, the childlish behavior that the weeping-willow seemt to have stir in her all of a sudden. As by magic.

When we reached the tree she left my hand and began to look at the trunk with attention, frowning while her hands were brushing the dark bark. She vanished behind the leaves, the murmurs of her thoughts as the single evidence of her presence next to me.

There it is!

I joined her and couldn't help but smiled under the joy lighting up her face, like a children on Christmas Eve. She pointed at the bark where a K had been engraved on it.

I was twenty when I did. I got lost once and found this place by accident. I fell in love with this tree and every year then I looked for it again, in vain. I thought it had only been a dream. My weeping-willow, how I missed it...

She hadn't looked at me while confessing the intimacy of her happiness, lost in the reunion with her singular fling. Caressing it lovingly. She leaned against the trunk and finally smiled at me, taking my hand, her fingers pressing my skin tightly.

You led me to it, Will.

Her eyes brushed mine in a wave of thanks, a sweet wave of feelings.

The breeze made her hair float in front of her eyes and I pushed it instinctively. She looked down a few seconds, I could have sworn she was blushing. I don't know why I let my fingers caress her cheek and rest on her nape. Why I felt her gasp and then she looked at me, a bit scared. Why she slowly closed her eyes and leaned over. Why I did the same and shivered as the warmness of her breath reached my lips. Why we were about to make vanish the last inch between our skins in an unexpected kiss when a voice behind us made us jump and break apart. Killing the spell that the weeping-willow had spread over our hearts.

Isn't that Karen Walker and her cutie lawyer?

I turned and faced Beverley Leslie, coming straight towards the tree. His assistant following him quietly.


	5. Coming closer to my heart

What if Beverley had never come up? What if I had kissed Will under my beautiful tree? How about our relation, our friendship? I was about to ruin everything for a simple caprice of my wishes. I'm so selfish. 

But I didn't feel the softness of his lips on mine nor the dizzy sensation that I would love to stay forever in his arms. It must have been a sign that we didn't have to choose another path. We would remain friends, very good ones. It was better like that.

However I couldn't help thinking about this caress he had left on my cheek. How he had brushed my nape and slowly leaned over to reach my mouth. Was it just an act of pity? While we were coming back to the manor, Beverley and his assistant between the two of us, I tried to catch his gaze in order to scan his eyes, his heart.

He never looked at me and kept on speaking to Beverley's assistant. I abdicted. Since when the dreams come true? I simply smiled and made fun at Beverley.

To forget everything.

I closed my eyes and leaned my head backwards against the marble of the bathtub, enjoying the heat of the water on my body. It was sweet, like Will's arms around me. I could almost feel his breath on my neck. I shivered and frowned. I should put an end to my fantasies.

I avoided his gaze, slightly spoke to him. The episode of the tree had been a bit awkward, unexpected. I didn't know how to deal with it. He didn't have to do all these things just because of our friendship. I would never ask him that, it wasn't sincere.

I left the suite and went down to the bar, curiously empty. I sat down on a velvet couch and looked blankly the bubbles of the champagne going up to the surface of the glass. Looking for some air, like me. Twenty minutes later I went to the restaurant and waited for him. The intimacy of the table, the romantic atmosphere of the candles were suddenly weighing a lot, a reminiscence of what we had been about to live. A sadly note of a buried past, an impossible dream.

Before I realized what was happening, he was sat next to me. As if nothing had happened he took my hand and asked me whether I was fine and then started speaking about conventional themes. Neutral sentences. I accepted his game and tried to enjoy the simple fact that he was there, with me. Obviously so far from the events of the afternoon and the feelings we had shared under the leaves of the one-hundred-year-old tree.

I fell in love with her immediately. When I looked at her speaking to Beverley Leslie. The sound of her voice rocked me peacefully and all of a sudden I realized that the friend I was supporting here had such importance on my life that I couldn't live without her.

There was more than a mere friendship but the desires of my soul seemt to have scared her and I felt guilty when I saw how she was trying to avoid me.

I don't know what I was expecting when I decided to come with her, I hadn't really thought about it. Of course it hadn't crossed my mind that Karen would get the lead part in my heart. I had been caught up by the courage of her acts. By the fact that for once, she wasn't hiding anything, any feeling. Her sincerety is the most touching feature of her personality and her vulnerability makes her face shine under the light of the day, the pale shade of a beloved moonlight. She has a singular beauty, the sequel to her self-confidence mixed with the fear of her weaknesses.

That's all her charms and I fell for them, hopelessly.

She hadn't tried to escape from my embrace, there, under the tree. She had been waiting this kiss but she just needed comfort, and support. She was mad at Stan for what he had done but she still loved him. And I was just Will. She had mixed everything but thought I could make her forget about the issues she was dealing with.

The dinner went well, a bit artificial but I was doing my best to get back her confidence and erased, as much as I could, the regretful incident of the afternoon. Valentine's day would take place the day after. A single dance under the spotlights and we would go back to our respectives lives. Drawing a line under this weekend.

Forgive me Karen if I decide to keep it in my heart then.

We turned the lights off around midnight in an heavy silence. I didn't dare to move, she was so close to me. And so far at the same time.

Tell me the story of your life. Why you're so quiet on it. Please, tell me.

The darkness is very helpful when you feel like confessing your memories. I don't know why I whispered it all of a sudden and felt how she was looking at me, surprised. Looking for my eyes in the dark. We turned and her breath brushed my face, we were probably only a few inches apart. Then she began to speak, slowly, anxiously.

I listened to her quietly, all this existence that had determined the adult she had become, her personality. The numerous travels, the pains, the joys. The loss of her father, how she missed him. She told me everything and then we fell asleep. Her head on my shoulder, my arms around her waist. I succombed to the smell of her hair and dreamed of the weeping-willow and the brightness of her smiles when she had found it back.

She had looked so relieved. So alive. If only she could be mine.


	6. Stay with me

I opened my eyes and felt his heart beat under my cheek. Peaceful, a regular breath. He was still sleeping. I didn't move immediately though and enjoyed the fantasy taking part in my head. I would plunge my face in his neck and fill my lungs with his smell. Kissing his skin then reach his ear and whisper that he was all to me. 

Only in my head but still.

Isn't it scaring how fast our feelings can evolve as soon as we accept them and let them take us away, in a dizzy whirl of laughs, joy, warmness? That's what I love the most in my life. All these details that make the difference and bring uniqueness to my days. When I fall in love and there's no regret.

I left reluctantly our bed and went to the small hall of the suite. The Times was waiting for me and very soon the breakfast arrived to accompany my daily reading. But the words were dancing in front of my eyes, I couldn't concentrate on the slight article, the slight headline. There was a man behind me, sleeping. And I loved him more than anything.

He joined me thirty minutes later, still half-asleep. We shared the toasts and the coffee in silence, listening to the rain falling on the windows.

After the long monologue of the night before, my bright confession, I felt vulnerable in front of his gaze. Like naked. He knew a lot of things now and even some of them I had never told Stanley about. Never told anybody. We had reached such a grade of complicity that I had given up my fears and plunged into his arms. His mind.

What would come next while the only secret I had kept for myself was how my heart was burning under his eyes? A few hours separated us from the crucial moment when we would dance and he would let go of my hand. Slowly, so slowly. And then I would lose the charms of his presence next to me. Why don't the interludes last a bit more? Like a whole life, maybe?

A laziness had taken possession of our bodies and none of us felt like standing up, going down the manor and joining the others for some superficial conversations, hypocritical dialogues, disgusting sentences. I gave him The Times and pretended to go to the French window to contemplate the ocean. I love the gray color of the waves when the rain caresses the sea. But instead of looking at the seagulls and the rocks below me, I stared at his back and let the morning fly away, lost in the daydreams of my soul.

She had given me her heart in the darkness of the night. Let the confession leave her soul a few inches apart from me. We had reached another stage in the complex and blurry nets of our friendship. Now I was only wishing for her lips. The heat of her body against me and feel that it was all what she actually wanted.

Valentine's day can't be rainy. It's all about blue skies, bright smiles and crazy dreams. Long walks, hand in hand through some romantic place. Where was the magic when the light of midday was as dark as the brownstones of New York?

We didn't do a lot until 11.30am when she went to the bathroom and get prepared for the lunch. As I could hear the shower run in the room next to me, I looked how she had left haphazardly her personal items on the bed, the armchair, the table. She had taken possession of the place at the exact second she had entered the suite. A wave of perfume following her gestures, her voice. She had a remarkable presence.

She needs it to feel comfortable and safe. She requires tenderness and care.

She smiled at me while leaving the bathroom, adjusting a necklace with expert hands. She had chosen a velvet dress, ankle-length. A deep blue matching with the aquamarine around her neck. She had curled her hair and done it, some strands hanging around her face.

I went for a shower with the image of her last appearance feeding my veins. How come I had missed the sepulcral beauty of her features? It was so evident, so clear.

We went to the restaurant hand in hand. Her fingers were soft and warm against my skin. I felt like intertwining my fingertips with hers and then going up slowly. Caressing her arms, her soulders, her whole body. And letting my lips brush her skin, the least inch of it. We didn't speak to anybody before sitting in the greenhouse opposite the ocean and the warth of its waves.

Beverley Leslie sat down next to us and we started playing poker under the thick layer of glass of the greenhouse. The storm getting strength outside, matching with the burning feelings boiling inside of me as Karen's leg brushed mine and rested there, against my shivering skin. We made some room for another player and very soon her whole body was pressed on me.

She let escape a laugh and relaxed against me. Our hands brushed each other's one accidentally under the table and I took advantage of it to intertwin my fingers with hers as she caressed my skin. It passed totally unnoticed for the rest of the guests but meant so much to me.

We left the greenhouse and came back to our suite around 5pm. The party would start at 6.30, there wasn't time to lose if we wanted to be ready. We went out the elevators and she passed her arm around mine, leaning her head against my shoulder, sighing, satisfy.

We didn't break apart, I closed the door behind and turned towards her. I almost bumped into her and grabbed her shoulders to find back some balance. We looked at each other without saying a word. She bit her lower lip, took a deep breath and opened her mouth to speak when the phone began to ring.

Grace was calling.


	7. Of misunderstandings and tears

Happy Valentine's day, Will. 

I murmured it and looked down, sighing, while he answered the phone and started speaking to Grace. It looked like something was happening in New York. Nothing serious though. A flood or something. I picked up some clothes and went to the bathroom, passing totally unnoticed in front of Will. What was I expecting? That he would forget her and concentrate on me? I hadn't had the chance to meet him twenty years ago and so our relation would never reach the state he was sharing with Grace. I knew it. So why did I behave as if it weren't fair?

I'm not sixteen anymore, I should be able to make differences.

I took a shower and stepped into a satin black dress, doing my curled hair and replacing the aquamarine with diamonds. So white, so pure. Who was I? All of a sudden while looking at my reflexion in the mirror, I realized that all we could see was a pale imitation of a missing life. I had become the best symbol of a high society member, expensive clothes and shining jewels covering my whole body. But what about my soul?

It had been swallowed by the weight of money a very long time ago. How come I had accepted that? Small wonder why Will would never look at me but with a friendly smile.

He had stopped speaking a few minutes before. I loved imagining that he was just there, behind the door. Waiting for me. And if I opened it all of a sudden, we would face each other and kiss. I just wanted to feel the heat of his body against me. The sweetness of his lips, his arms on my back. And then I would smile, letting kisses all over his face and whispering how I loved him. He would tightened his grip and never break apart.

Because he would also love me.

We arrived at the bar at 6.30pm. He didn't touch me, didn't take my hand. Nothing. Obviously he was quite worried about Grace's call and the flood. She would call him later to let him know how she had dealt with it. I did my best to entertain him and the dinner went well, he relaxed and began to smile again.

My heart started beating quicker when I heard Beverley Leslie announce the spotlight dance. The dreadful moment had finally come and even though I was going to let me lead by Will's steps, I couldn't help feeling the anxiety boiling in my chest. They would all look at me, Stanley's wife, how did I dare to come here after what he had been doing? Don't tell me it has to do with courage or something.

I see it more like a revenge. Their gossip will never reach me.

I looked at Will and he took my shaking hands. The room got dark and a bright light fell on us, warm, scaring.

No matter what they say, Karen. I know what I feel.

I gasped when he murmured it and we started dancing. I forgot everything, everyone. His unexpected confession had been so confusing that I slightly heard the music in the background. I caught up his eyes and he smiled at me. Did he love me? I felt how a wave of happiness invade my whole body and I gave up myself to his arms and the beloved dance under the spotlights.

I came back to reality when I heard the applause around us, fuzzy figures moving in the darkness of the room. And Will, still holding me tight. But time didn't stay still and very soon the other guests joined us and started dancing too. Will pushed me towards the door and took my face between his hands.

I want to talk to you. Let me call Grace before. I need... I need you.

I smiled shyly and blushed under his sudden change of attitude. So sweet, so beautiful. I nodded and let him go away smiling at me. Was I dreaming? I didn't care that much, as long as I could keep on sleeping. I turned towards the room waiting anxiously for his return. Some businessman, Stanley's friend, came to me and we began to speak about Will. He wanted to see him for eventual cases. I looked behind me but Will was nowhere to be seen. I excused myself and promised to come back with him. He had gone for quite a while now and his absence began to worry me.

I went through the corridor, looking by every open door. First thing I saw was his back, he was sat on a chair in the lounge. I was about to enter when I heard his words and felt my heart break apart, tears welling up in my eyes.

I just came to prevent Karen from some humiliation. Stanley's story is enough pitiful, she really didn't need it...

I opened my mouth but no sound came out. I suddenly felt all dizzy and clentched my fists, moving backwards, slowly, quietly. I turned and started running, slamming the door behind me.

I just came to prevent Karen from some humiliation. Stanley's story is enough pitiful, she really didn't need it... But... But I'm falling for her, Grace. I guess I love...

The slamming of the door behind me made me jump and so I turned but there was nobody. I came back to the difficult confession I was giving to Grace and stood up, looking for the right words to describe my feelings.

I leaned against the wall and stared blankly by the window, the rain still pouring. The park was in the darkness, some people smoking sat on the stairs.

Are you mad at me? Grace, tell me something. I need help, what am I supposed to do? I can't stay there and looked at her as if there were nothing. I... I... Oh god, if only you could see her as I do. You will get it. She's... Unique.

As I was trying to scan my heart and share everything with Grace, a figure caught my attention outside. A woman had just bumped into a smoking man. She was apparently panicked. Looking around her and nodding to the man. She suddenly turned her face and I met her gaze through the glass of the window, the curtain of the rain, the tears on her face. I stopped speaking and looked at her. She stayed still then shook her head to me, frowning.

What was happening?

She bit her lips and started running.

Will? Will, are you there? Damn speak to me! I'm not mad at you just a bit surprised...

I call you back Grace!

What?

I dropped out the phone and rushed outside. I stopped a few seconds when I reached the stairs and shouted out loud.

Karen!

Her figure began to disappear in the darkness of the night, under the icy rain and the wind blowing with strength.

Is everything okay?

I turned and looked a man smoking a cigar.

Well... I don't... I don't know...

I looked again at the path that had just swallowed Karen and then started running towards her despair. What had happened? Why was she running like that, all of a sudden? Had something happened in the ballroom? A sharp remark? As I was reaching the first trees of the park, the image of her face hit my mind.

She had looked so hurt, so sad, vulnerable. Like died.

Even though I had gone running the day before, I still didn't know very well the island and even less when the only light I could get was the one of the moonlight. I just followed the main path but very soon it divided itself in three new paths. I stopped, breathing loud. Which one had she chosen?

The left one led to the cliffs, the main one, in front of me, through the park and the right one to the other side of the island. The harbor and the beaches.

I was about to take the left one when I saw something shine on the ground. I came closer and picked up a necklace. Pure diamonds like the ones Karen had decided to wear that night. It didn't take me long to figure it was hers and then I realized that I was walking through another path. A smaller one, almost invisible. Very old perhaps.

I began to run again and when I reached a curve I knew where I was. I speeded up the pace anticipating the hidden meadow. The weeping-willow. The secret place where my heart had started beating for Karen's eyes.

And all of a sudden it appeared in front of me. The moonlight shining above its leaves. A magical appearance, enchanting. Charming.

I began to slow down and crossed the meadow anxiously. I couldn't see her but still, I knew she was there, somewhere against her beloved tree. Crying her pain out, those tears I wanted to make cease immediately.

I pushed away the heavy leaves and penetrated under the weeping-willow. The light of the moon passing by them like thousands of lightenings. Sharp, bright. I let my hand brush the dark bark and follow the circular form of the trunk.

And then I stopped.

She had huddled up herself in a foetal position and was crying now. Laid on the ground.

I squatted down and pushed her hair away from her face.

Leave me alone. Please.

The fragile sound escaping from her throat scared me. She hadn't yelled, just moaned. Hurtfully.


	8. Be mine

He sat down and took her face between his hands. She didn't try to resist and let him rock her against his chest. Her sobs calmed down under his caresses, his sweet hands against her temples, still tensed because of her cries. 

She was looking at the ground, blankly. She swallowed back the pain resting in her throat and started to speak.

I don't need your help, Will. And even less your pity. I'm not a little girl anymore, I can handle it. It wouldn't be the first time you know. And as you see I'm still here. I'm strong enough, I will get it. I didn't dare to ask you to come here because I thought you wouldn't accept it. But you said yes. You have no idea how I felt happy. For once I imagined that you cared about me. And then... All these things. Why have you been so sweet? If it wasn't sincere... I trusted you. I put my fears aside and told you all these secrets I was keeping inside. I never stopped being honest with you since we arrived here and I thought you appreciated it. Don't pretend you like me if it's only to make me smile. Happiness needs strong bases and certainly not all those lies. You made me hope and look at the result. Look at me, Will. Why have you not been sincere since the very beginning? I wouldn't have had all these... All these dreams. I heard you speak to Grace and how sad my situation was. You hurt me, you hurt me a lot. I thought you had understood and seen that I wasn't... Damn, Will... Didn't you notice that I did have feelings? You saw me cry, I didn't hide it. It had been hard but not because of Stanley. I... Leave me alone, please. Leave me alone if you don't like me.

He hadn't said a word and stayed perfectly still while she was speaking. Listening quietly to her whispers, her fragile voice, the loud breath behind her sobs. He couldn't help biting his lips under every word she was using. Its weight killing him softly. He had always hated when she was suffering.

And so much more because of him.

He let go of her head, slowly, carefully. What had he done? He stood up, shaking, panicked. He looked at her still laid down on the ground, shining tears running on her beautiful features. He frowned and moved backwards.

He had spoiled everything.

The unexpected contact with the leaves made him jump slightly and while he pushed them away he just murmured before leaving.

I don't like you, Karen. I don't like you. I'm so sorry if I hurt you. I'm so in love with you.

She stopped sobbing and held her breath as she heard his confession. Those words she had been wishing for and had thought lost, forever. Ridiculous fantasies of her lonely heart. She sat down and turned herself, he was leaving.

She stood up and watched his back through the leaves of the tree. The moonlight catching up her shining eyes. She took a deep breath and called him.

Will!

He stopped and turned, looking at her. He could see her tears in the darkness of the night, the last ones.

She didn't move but felt her heart beat quicker when he slowly moved towards her. She frowned and looked at him with pleading eyes while they were only a few inches apart.

Don't leave me, Will. Don't leave me if you love me.

He took her face between his hands, shaking. Her tears were shining brightly under the moonlight, like the most beautiful diamonds he had ever seen. The soft breeze was caressing the leaves of the weeping-willow, singing a soft melody to them while their hearts were beating quickly. She closed her eyes and leaned over, feeling his breath against her lips.

The stars as the only witnesses of Will and Karen's first kiss.

What happened next? What did you do?

Karen looked at Jack and smiled shyly, vaguely blushing.

Well... We... Hum... We came back to the manor and... And.

Jack giggled and leaned backwards on his couch. When Grace had rushed at his flat the day before to tell him that things were happening out there and that it involved feelings, he had burst out laughing. But in front of his friend's panicked face, he had started panicking too. And then waited impatiently for a call and even better Will and Karen's return.

The situation was pretty unexpected and he had spent the whole night speaking with Grace about it. How it had always been obvious that there was something. How they all had tried to ignore it.

He smiled at Karen and hugged her very tight.

Since when are you so shy when it comes to tell me about your love life, Karebear?

She stifled a laugh and kissed his cheek, plunging her eyes in his.

Since when are you interested in straight x rated cases, Jackiebear?

You scared me, Will! When you dropped out the phone, I thought that something was happening!

Grace took another sip of coffee and looked at her friend sat next to her on the couch. Karen and him had come back a few hours earlier. Together.

Together.

She smiled while thinking about the meaning of this word. The consequences it would have on the four of them. On their lives. But for the moment she was alone with him. And Karen was with Jack. She caressed her friend's cheek and took a deep breath.

So that's all your story?

He nodded.

She raised her eyebrows and sighed.

Oh god and it's just the beginning.

They both looked at each other and laughed silently.

I love him, Jack.

I love her, Grace.

She fell alseep in his arms that night. Her head on his chest, her fingers intertwined with his. She closed her eyes, smiling. And they both reached their dreams under the weeping-willow and its enchanting leaves.


End file.
